Forest Management of Pinus pinaster Ait. in Unbalanced Forest Structures Arising from Disturbances—A Framework Proposal of Decision Support Systems (DSS)

Forests assume a great socioeconomic and environmental importance, requiring good management decisions to value and care for these natural resources. In Portugal, forest land use accounts for 34.5% of the continental area. The softwood species with the highest representation is maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.). Traditionally, the species is managed as pure and even-aged stands for timber production, with a rotation age of 45 to 50 years. Depending on the initial stand density, the stands are thinned 2 to 4 times during the rotation period. Disturbances associated with forest fires have a negative impact on the age structure of stands over time, as they result in a narrow range of stand ages. This age homogenization over large forest areas increases with the recurrence and size of forest fires, bringing new challenges to forest management, namely the difficulty in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the wood supply. The problem aggravates with the increasing demand pressure on pine wood. This article aims to suggest a framework of DSS for Pinus pinaster that can effectively support the management of forest areas under these circumstances, i.e., narrow age ranges and high demand of harvested timber volume. A communal woodland area in the Northern region of Portugal affected by forest fires was selected as a study case. The Modispinaster model was used as the basis of the DSS, to simulate growth scenarios and interventions along the optional rotation period. Two clear-cut ages were considered: 25 and 40 years. The results obtained were the input data for an integer linear programming (ILP) model to obtain the plan that maximizes the volume of timber harvested in the study area, during the planning horizon. The ILP model has constraints bounding the area of clearings, and sustainability, operational and forestry restrictions. The computational results are a powerful tool for guidance in the decision-making of scheduling and forecasting the execution of interventions determining the set of stands that are exploited according to the different scenarios and the period in which the clear-cut is made throughout the planning horizon. Considering all constraints, the solution allows a balanced extraction of a total of 685 m3ha−1, over the 50-year horizon, as well as the representation of all age classes at the end of the planning period.

Cartographie des déterminants de l’invasion par le pin maritime, Pinus pinaster Ait., de la subéraie de Haddada dans le nord-est de l’Algérie

Plusieurs subéraies du Nord-Est algérien sont sujettes à une invasion par le pin maritime. Cette dynamique forestière qui a débuté dans les années 1980 est souvent citée parmi les facteurs de dégradation des subéraies algériennes mais n’a encore jamais fait l’objet de recherche. L’objectif de notre étude, qui porte sur le cas de la subéraie de Haddada (wilaya d’El-Tarf), était d’identifier les déterminants de l’invasion par le pin maritime, Pinus pinaster Ait., en recourant à une cartographie chorologique de facteurs tels que la pente, l’exposition et les surfaces incendiées en 1994, ainsi qu’une cartographie de la subéraie avant et après l’invasion. L’élaboration des cartes a suivi une approche géomatique complétée par des enquêtes sur le terrain. La cartographie montre que les parties envahies par le pin maritime sont celles qui ont été le plus touchées par l’incendie de 1994, ce qui correspond aussi aux pentes fortes et très fortes. La faible résilience du chêne-liège, Quercus suber, dans ces conditions a permis au pin maritime de le supplanter. Cette dynamique illustre bien le paradigme patch dynamics dans une forêt méditerranéenne, et nous renseigne aussi sur le potentiel invasif du pin maritime, s’agissant d’une espèce se révélant également invasive ailleurs dans le monde. Le changement climatique risque d’accentuer ces processus d’invasion.

Salicylic and citric acid as promising new stimulants for resin tapping in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.)

Aim of the study: We tested alternative active principles to the most widely used resin tapping stimulant which contains sulphuric acid. We also studied the effect of wounding in five-year-old Pinus pinaster seedlings with a microtapping method.Area of study: The experiment was carried out at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain.Material and Methods: The experiment consisted of six treatments: control (no stimulant no wounding), wound (no stimulant), and pines stimulated with sulphuric acid, ethrel, salicylic acid and citric acid. We evaluated the resin yield differentiating between released resin and internal resin (resin retained within the xylem), and the physiological status of the tree.Main Results: Wounded plants produced on average three times more resin than control plants. Plants stimulated with salicylic and citric acids showed the highest resin yield and produced on average 15% more resin than those stimulated with sulphuric acid, mainly because the released resin was higher. Tree diameter affected resin yield and thicker trees produced more resin. We did not observe any significant effect of the treatments on stomatal conductance and only a marginal significant effect (p<0.10) on water potential.Research highlights: Salicylic acid and citric acid seem to be promising stimulants for the resin tapping activity to be further tested in field experiments with adult trees.Keywords: sulphuric acid; ethrel; pine resin; microtapping; wounding; water potential; stomatal conductance.Abbreviations used: TR: total resin content; RR: released resin; IR: internal resin; gs: stomatal conductance; Ψleaf: midday leaf water potential.